DAN PHUONG HIGH SCHOOL: SOME SOLUTIONS TO STRAW AFTER HARVESTING TO REDUCE AIR POLLUTION IN AGRICULTURAL AREAS

Bad effects of straw buring on traffic

 I. Introduction

          A teacher was teaching when the classroom became full of smoke, which made the class unable to continue the lesson. This happens regularly. Moreover, our teacher has a disease in her respiratory system and the smoke makes the matter worse. Now she doesn’t have good health. Therefore, our group decided to go to the field nearby to find out the cause of the smoke. On the way we saw some  accidents. It was because of the smoke that the visibility was limited and the motorcyclists could not see the road very well. The surrounding areas were full of moke because farmers were burning straw in the field. We realized how harmful is the burning of straw after harvesting, so we decided to choose this topic: “Some solutions to straw after harvesting to reduce air pollution in agricultural areas”.

                                                              Video: Interview

II. Real situation of air pollution as a result of smok

  Our research group went to find out the reality in some rice fields and streets in the town nearby as well as took many photographs and made some videos. We saw with our own eyes thick smoke caused by burning straw and its bad effect on people’s lives. We interviewed the people living in surrounding areas. Most of them showed their unpleasant attitude towards straw burning. Dan Phuong district is situated in the suburb of Hanoi, in which there are a lot of rice fields. Recently this area has been under the influence of straw burning during and after the harvest. Agricultural by-products, especially straw, are not recycled. Instead, they  are put on the roads so that they become dry and then they are burned. This makes the surrounding areas full of thick smoke, especially in the afternoon. But why do people burn straw like this?

Straw burned on the road

Nowadays, most farmers do not use straw as a kind of fuel in their homes any longer, so they do not bring them home. But in our opinion, the main reason is that farmers do not have much knowledge of the advantages of straw. Moreover, they are not aware of the danger of environment pollution. There have been many scientific researches on straw showing that straw has great economic benefits which are mentioned in the next part. However, farmers are not told about that and they do not know about the very bad situation of current environment pollution. Harmful effects caused by straw burning are much more serious than people think. Gases released in the process of burning straw such as CO and CO₂  are harmful to the environment. Moreover, farmers usually burn straw late in the afternoon, which would increase the level of pollution because at that time the temperature falls, the thick atmosphere tends to cover the area. As a result the smoke can not rise. On wet or windless days the smoke from straw burning diffuses slowly, slowing down the circulation of air molecules in the atmosphere and bringing more harm. To sum up, the consequence of straw burning is environment pollution, an increase in greenhouse effect, climate changing and ecologic imbalance.

Another harmful effect of straw smoke is that it affects people’s health badly, increasing the diseases related to respiratory system such as lung cancer. Furthermore, traffic accidents happen more often because smoke from straw burning limits the visibility and big burning heaps of straw on the road sometimes block the traffic, which also increase the risk of the burning of other things.

 A car catching fire from straw burning

People think that burning straw right in the field can make it good fetilizer. Nevertherless, under high temperature some organic substances in the straw may become useless inorganic substances. Burning straw right in the field also makes the land dry because an amount of water evaporates during this process. Burning straw is a waste of raw materials. Instead of being used properly, it is to blame for many problems.

III. Some suggested solutions

          In Vietnam, burning straw is a common thing in many provinces such as Ha Noi, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Ha Nam, etc. What to do with straw after harvests is also an urgent matter in many agricultural areas in the South East Asia as well as around the  world. In the hope to contribute to the improvement of the situation, the research group of Dan Phuong High School, Ha Noi would like to suggest some solutions. We think that these solutions may be widely applied not only in Vietnam or in the South East Asia but also in many rice cultivating areas in the world.

            1/. The first solution is that we should raise people’s awareness of harmful effects of burning straw as it affects people’s health, contributes to environment pollution and causes many traffic accidents.

Straw as a material to plant mushrooms

Producing fertilizers from straw

            2/. The scond solution is that we had better use it as a material to produce fertilizer. After the harvest, farmers should put the straw in the corner of the field. Then they can make a biological substance by mixing water and phosphate in the ratio of 1 to 1, then they pour this substance into the straw to change it into fertililzer. A ton of straw needs about 5 to 10 kilograms of the biological substance. This depends on how long the farmers want the straw to decay. After that, cover the heap of straw with a nilon bag or mud to keep heat. 20 days later, the straw will disintegrate and become organic fertilizer. Making biological substance doesn’t cost much, about 13,000 or 15,000 dong, so it is not difficult for famers to follow this solution. When farmers use this kind of fertilizer, the chemical fertilizer can be reduced by over 30%, but the productivity increases by 10 to 15%. Besides, farmers can sell their straw to the people in the farms where fruit trees are planted or cows are raised.

 Producing building materials from straw

           3/. The third solution is that straw can be treated with modern technology. Straw is collected, dried and then put into a pyrolysis furnace to be recycled into biological fuels. One of the products is bio-oil which is used in different fields such as chemical producing, medicine, industry, food producing. It is also used directly in power stations, replacing petroleum to operate engines. Hard products can be used as active coal or fertilizer when they are added with some elements. Straw can be used to keep heat. It is a good insulating material after being processed. Heat from household articles is enough to keep the house warm. The outside straw mortar prevents the house form soaking and makes the walls strong. The inner straw mortar is a special material that helps us balance the humidity and makes airy condition. Using this kind of materials does not do harm to human and the environment. Besides, there are other ways of treating straw such as using it as a buffer for tragile goods and fruits when being transported; using it to produce pulp and power; pressing it into bales of straw (building materials).

            If people can carry out the above solutions, burning straw after harvesting can be reduced. As a result, harmful effects of burning straw on environment and people’s health will certainly decrease. Moreover, when straw is used properly, it can raise people’s income, improve the soil, increase the plant productivity, save fuels and materials.

IV. Conclusion

          It is clear that burning straw can lead to many problems. Hoever, knowing how to deal with it brings a lot of benefits. To make the situation better we should make farmers change their awareness and all the people have to take responsibility for solving the environment pollution problems.

            Our research group hopes that the above solutions will be popularised not only in Vietnam but also in the South East Asia and throughout the word.

The research is carried out by the representatives of three classes of Dan Phuong High School: 11A1, 11A2, 11A9. Mr Ta Dang Thai is our guide. The following is name list of ours:

Order	Name	Class	Notes
1	Nguyễn Hoàng Yến	11A9	Leader
2	Nguyễn Thị Khánh Ly	11A9
3	Dương Ý Như	11A9
4	Nguyễn Thị Thu Trang	11A9
5	Nguyễn Thị Minh Khuê	11A9
6	Nguyễn Hà Thành Luân	11A2
7	Nguyễn Huy Hoàng	11A1
8	Nguyễn Văn Lâm	11A1
9	Trịnh Duy Phương	11A1
10	Chu Xuân Thuỷ	11A1